Time to choose a battery

[Mike65 475]

It is getting close to the time of having to choose a battery, my Mustang will be used only as a weekend cruiser. I have been looking at several different brands. The car will be used almost every weekend from the beginning of April to the end of November & sit not used from the beginning of December to the end of March. Should I just get a good off the shelf battery that fits my battery tray, or go for the more expensive Optima battery that people rave about?. Ideas, suggestions.

[Black Jade 43]

I bought a apperance blem battery from a local battery supply. It is an 24F Exide AGM (absorbed glass mat), painted it black and put a repo Autolite cover on it. Works great. Put maintainer on it once a month or so.

[LiLMike 42]

I went with a Motorcraft battery. Got the heavy duty one for a 69 Mustang. Great warranty and cheaper than most. Been sitting all winter and it fires right up. Got it from a Ford dealer and got 10% off with a Military discount.

[Guillaume69 150]

I opted for an Optima Red Top, and a battery tender for the winter months.

Pricey (dry cells) but in the long term, I believe this battery will outlive all the others I had before, probably by a lot. And plenty of cold cranking amp (800) to revive my mighty OEM 351w.

Autolite battery replicas are the worst batteries I ever came around: fine looks but expensive and very poor quality. Got two in a row, and both died within a year, in spite of taking good care of them...

G

[barnett468 418]

i would consider the ones below as was mentioned by black jade. Exide most likely makes it for bosch as well so find which one is cheaper if the warranty is the same. bosch says they will replace it for free if it fails within 4 years. thats a pretty good warranty.

optima batteries are actually not dry, they use jellied acid and are a therefore a gel cell. the agm  batteries are the current fad and good quality ones work very well and don't need special charging techniques. they are a little better adapted to automotive use then gel cell batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008QDK0RQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008QDK0RQ&linkCode=as2&tag=enginebatterymcnt-20&linkId=P3SM4XESDLV7HK4E

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010T866D2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B010T866D2&linkCode=as2&tag=enginebatterymcnt-20&linkId=ML5VV4Q4TJOBA4QS

 

[69Stanger408 82]

I went with the Optima Red Top from Jegs

[Guillaume69 150]

I knew Optimas are gel. It’s written on it. LoL.

I thought « dry » meant no liquid which is why I believed gel counted as « dry ». Guess I was wrong! The point being you don’t get liquid acid everywhere if you flip an Optima.

G

[1969_Mach1 333]

I use an Optima Red Top battery.  I also use a battery Tender to maintain it.  I've had good luck with them.  I replaced the first one after 12 years.  It was tested at my local NAPA store when I turned it in for a core, they said it was still good.  After 12 years I simply didn't trust it much any more.

[barnett468 418]

4 hours ago, Guillaume69 said:

I knew Optimas are gel. It’s written on it. LoL.

I thought « dry » meant no liquid which is why I believed gel counted as « dry ». Guess I was wrong! The point being you don’t get liquid acid everywhere if you flip an Optima.

G

lol, yeah many people call them "dry" cell it can just be confusing to some that don't know about batteries.

[Bob & Sue 110]

On 2/18/2018 at 1:28 PM, 1969_Mach1 said:

I use an Optima Red Top battery.  I also use a battery Tender to maintain it.  I've had good luck with them.  I replaced the first one after 12 years.  It was tested at my local NAPA store when I turned it in for a core, they said it was still good.  After 12 years I simply didn't trust it much any more.

Not maintaining a battery is the biggest killer of cranking type batteries the way they're designed if you crank on it till it;s under 50% of a full charge it will shorten the lifespan dramatically. If it's a lead acid not keeping them topped off and using a dumb charger will do the same by boiling it dry. I've had 7-8 year old lead acid batteries check out like new the one in my John Deere is a 9 year old Interstate. I like AGM's just for the fact there's no upkeep to them, really doesn't matter what brand as long as it's made in the US. There's an Optima plant 20 miles from here they manufacture batteries for quite a few brands.